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Tag: thumb sucking

Just 10 days ago, I wrote about Kit’s musical first – her first piano lesson. Since then, every time she passes by the piano, she will practice her ‘Old MacDonald... going up to E-I-E-I-O. I am so proud to hear her and see her little fingers playing on the piano (it’s a nice change from thumb sucking too!

Of course, the minute Kat touches the piano for her practice, Kit will magically appear from somewhere and this will be the beginning of a heated argument dominated with “I want to practice my piano” from both sides. In the end (always), Kit can be seen sitting (with a victorious grin) on the piano stool playing some music and singing something totally impromptu...(after all, how much MacDonald can one practice?)

So, this is what happened last week…

After much fighting when Kat had resigned to the rocking chair with her Taylor Swift Speak Now lyrics and piano music, Kit first walks up to her “I want that book” – even before she finishes the sentence, she tries to snatch it from Kat, who has now become an expert at dodging Kit (it’s a survival trick!) quickly hides it behind her.

Kat: “If you are not going to play the piano, I will”

Kit, realising she is not going to get the book OR the piano if she does not decide fast, decides to go straight back to the piano (without wasting any more time – split second decisions here!)

I am in the kitchen right next to the living room where the piano is and I am desperately wishing all this fighting away...in vain. It’s the typical Please Stop – Please let me finish this last thingsituation – of course my dinner is not ready yet so this is not helping at all! To make matters worse – I told Kat’s teacher to come early today which has taken away 30 mins from my cooking time – what a true martyr!

I silently peep from the kitchen and see Kat singing her Taylor Swift lyrics softly (if she’s too loud, Kit will think it to be more interesting and will immediately do something to end Kat’s fun!) and Kit is busy working on her left hand (her most recent piano homework).I go back to the kitchen before I can be spotted and loaded with complaints.

All of a sudden...I hear music being played by two hands. At first I think Kit Kat have made truce and are playing together but then when I walk out of the kitchen, I see that Kit has placed her play Casio keyboard on the piano and is playing her right hand on it and is slowly but surely playing her left hand on the actual piano – I am speechless...this is a huge achievement for her. Anyone who has played piano will know the significance of playing with two hands for the first time. It is a totally different feeling and it takes time to get used to the feel of it…of course, after that you learn to appreciate the sounds more when you play with the left hand as an accompaniment. To see Kit playing this naturally, figuring it all on her own is GREAT WORK. As soon as she finished (all this was MacDonald by the way), I point this out to Kat (who has been watching anyway) and she then tells Kit to play without Casio but on the piano itself and Kit DOES IT! She's got the hang of playing with both hands!!

Fights forgotten, Kit Kat share a hug and when Kat says “I’m so proud of you” to Kit, you can literally see stars in Kit’s eyes. Kat’s praise surpasses everyone else’s. Such is their love hate relationship...

8-12 inches of snow…another snow day for the girls...NO SCHOOL!! We got the automated message from school last night so I went to bed little relaxed – no early morning rush – I even put extra sheets behind Kit’s headboard to block any signs of daybreak so as to get her into thinking it was still night... Did it work? NO!!

Just when I sat down to check my emails at 6:15am (thinking I can actually drink my tea hot for a change) Kit comes into the room with a “BOO” behind me!

Me: “Already? You are awake already? This is even earlier than normal school days!”

Kit: “I am really cold...” but in fact she is so active (Oh dear)

Me: “You HAVE to go back to bed. Even Kat is sleeping. Its night time” (Alright I lied)

I go back to her room and tuck her in and come back thinking maybe that will work (eyes on the room monitor now instead of screen – what a life!)

After a few minutes I hear “Can you sleep with me?” – This has become such a problem since Kit learnt to talk perhaps? Everyone loves their children to sleep with them once in a while but you let them do it once and they want it when you don’t! I think its time for Kit to wake up now and its only 6:30am – on school days, she’s sometimes difficult to wake up at 6:45am – now we did well, didn’t we?

Last night was classic: when the school announced the closure Kit was almost asleep and I told her: “Your school is closed tomorrow”

Kit looked at me with half closed eyes, sucking thumb, pulling her ear (like she does when she is declined mine) barely able to speak: “Not Kat’s?”

Even in that half asleep state, all she cares about is if Kat is going to go to school or not??!!

Its 8am now and since then Kit has woken up Kat prematurely, had a few bouts of crying when she refused to play with her, has generally moaned about not having any fun thing to play with...WHEN WILL THIS SNOW DAY END?

Pancakes with fresh strawberries and maple syrup coming up...that should keep them busy for a while!

Every baby has their unique way of drifting to sleep. Some listen to lullabies, some are rocked to sleep, some sleep while drinking milk or sucking their thumb and some babies will just sleep. My new niece is amazing I’ve heard – she belongs to the Just Like That category and is difficult to keep awake. Bliss!

By the way, my girls have never been great sleepers as babies. I learnt one thing though - whether your baby sleeps in excess or not, you will always get abundance of advice which makes you question your baby raising skills (after just having got over the questions over baby bearing ones!) All said and done, Kit Kat have finally discovered the pleasures of peaceful sleep (sleep and let sleep!).

Coming back to ways of drifting to sleep - As a baby, Kat had this strangest habit of rubbing my skin before going to bed. This skin could be my hand, my arm, my anything! This rubbing would go on all the while I was reading books to Kat till the time she fell asleep! Sometimes, if I was sitting next to her and she was drowsy, she would pick my arm and start rubbing her tiny fingers over my hand. This rubbing matured into Kat sucking her own thumb and then eventually a soft toy in bed (still does - Oh! I mean the toy, not the thumb!!)

Now here comes the most funny candidate for sleeping aids: KIT! When she was a baby, she developed this sweet habit of sucking my finger to sleep...So sweet, I hear you say. Ok, agreed but that sweetness looks sweet and adorable only till your baby is really an infant – it starts to look weird once your baby get older. Kat loved my finger SO MUCH that she would just not let go...she started developing preferences for fingers (!) I thought this was our future and was finding ways to reconcile with it when she (literally overnight) decided to switch to sucking her own thumb – what a RELIEF!

Thumb sucking goes on full swing when Kit is tired and sleepy but the minute she lies in bed, she needs my EAR – yes, MY EAR and she pulls it in every possible direction! She says I have the softest ears in the world (is that a crime?) and she has to feel them. What do my girls have with feeling me, I fail to understand. Again, Papa’s ear is not acceptable and nor is anybody else’s – ONLY MINE! Kit is very specific – it has to be the ear lobe only as that is the softest part – when she goes back and forth rubbing against my studs, I am worried that my ears will now start hanging like the rest of my body (Oh dear!)

So what if Dumbo had magic ears, I have the softest ears in the world… She’s just still a child I tell myself – it is only LOVE!

Kit has a best friend – of course her friends change ever so often and most of them are the ‘best’ anyway BUT still this friend is really Kit’s bestest friend so far. They play nicely together in the playroom, by the poolside and even go to the shops and parks together with their respective babysitters for little picnics etc.

Kit had a wonderful time at this best friend’s house a few days ago (and has since had this Can I have a baby girl or baby brother? mantra) so it was logical for me to invite her friend over to our house for a play date, right? WRONG!! It was the biggest mistake of this week at least! The other sin I committed was that I was not around for the play date. I had to run an urgent errand and as this was her BEST friend coming over, I assumed all would be fine considering there was Kat and 2 other babysitters around.

Imagine my surprise when I came home after the play date only to be told by Kat that all Kit did for the entire torturous 2 hours was cry and not share a single toy – my darling little girl who is adored by everyone around her and is the epitome of niceness and manners, who is usually such a matter of pride for me, turned into someone unpredictable just like that? Apparently, she just sat there bawling every time her friend touched any one of her toys/dolls. I believe Kit softened a little bit towards the end but wonder what went wrong? She’s had play dates before but nothing as fierce as this! (I believe in the end her friend ended up playing with Kat so I guess we did have one successful play date combo in the end)

When I questioned Kit, she said: “Why do I have to play what my friend wants? Those were my toys”. I think it was an ownership issue at that point but surprisingly Kit Kat share things between them (both happily and otherwise). When I explained why it was wrong to behave like that with her friend and that mummy was wrong too in having left her alone, Kit said: “That’s why I was like that, because you were not here.” (Imagine – now the fault was entirely mine!)

After a lot of comfort thumb sucking, hugs and kisses later, Kit promised to behave well next time (if her friend still wants to come over!) and was off to meet her FRIEND again in the playroom...what I gathered from the conversation between the babysitters, Kit's friend was eager to see her too!! Wonder what goes on in their little heads?

Little Kit has had control of my little finger as a pacifier for sleep for the last 3.5 years and a full week of non usage of my pinkie as a sleep inducer makes me think I’ve won my finger back!

Why did I do it in the first place? All new mothers whose babies do not stop crying in the middle of the night or keep waking for whatever reason during night or day must have tried every technique from white noise to lullaby to ignoring cries to whatever works. Something has to work!

They (who?) say that mothers are wiser second time around…ok so here I am to prove that this might not always be the case (always an exception to the rule!). Kit would not sleep in any easy way and after much trial and even more error I figured the only way to calm her and put her to sleep was to let her suck my little finger. To be honest, it felt really cute and harmless when she was newborn and then 3 months, 6 months or even a year old. It even looked cute and everyone complimented on it as it would pacify her so easily without the need for a pacifier!

So far so good…Then came the problems – Kit grew and somehow we both started looking abnormal having my finger in her mouth at nap times! I tried to reason with her (she became more adamant) and then gave up. It even came to the point where she would only suck my pinkie (not even Papa’s) and that too in a certain position and some nights she would like to pick a particular finger!

I thought my finger was gone forever when a couple of weeks ago Kit announced that she was a big girl and would only suck her thumb! One can only imagine the extent of my happiness and relief. I remember when Kat was sucking her own thumb at this age, I was working on getting her off it but as of now, getting Kit off my pinkie is a big achievement in itself. Baby steps... Happy July 4th Little Pinkie!